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Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series
'Mythopoeia in Andrzej Sapkowski’s ''The Witcher short stories, myth and the ambiguity of evil' ''The Witcher '' stories are amongst the best of not only polish, but worldwide fantasy. With unprecedented accuracy does the author touch upon the controversial contemporary issues of our reality through the medium of fantasy writing. The world created by Sapkowski is filled with magic and fantastic creatures, however they themselves are not central themes, rather the ideas which they represent are. Sapkowski explores all of those notions in the whole series, especially the first two volumes of short stories, through the innovative use of myths and mythtelling. He reinterprets (and sometimes tells anew) these classical myth and fables of the European culture in order to show possibilities of a different view on the classics: a different interpretation. In one of his stories which is a twist on the well known story of Snow White , there is a princess who has been persecuted and experimented on by malicious wizards. She somehow manages to escape, kills the huntsman who tried to rape her and then ruthlessly hunts down everyone responsible for all the pain she has suffered. In another tale which adapts the Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is a youngster who got mixed with a wrong crowd and was cursed by a priestess of a death god. He eventually pays many travelling merchants to come by and leave their daughters with him so that they may keep his company and perchance lift the curse. The use of these classical fairy tales allows for the reader to feel immediate familiarity with the world and the characters and the different interpretation encourages reflection on ambiguity of themes and stories on which our culture is based upon. '''Ambiguity of Evil' Through the figures of monsters Sapkowski exposes human vices by extrapolating them from our world into the fantasy realm, where it’s not people hating people, but people hating elves , dwarves and vice versa. Xenophobia, prejudice,' and hate of everything that is different - those are among the main themes of his stories. However, there are some people who still believe in good despite all the filth and evil they have been exposed to. Sapkowski places his main character, Geralt of Rivia – a witcher of a dying order--in in the middle of this conflict. He is a mutant, formerly a male human, who through magical experimentation as a child was transformed to become an effective instrument of combat, whose purpose is to protect common people from monsters and magical creatures. However throughout his journeys Geralt learns that it is often the monsters that require protection from man, for man is the true source of evil. His flaws and transgressions often summon evil creatures, such as Strzyga – a poor girl born of incest cursed by a jealous lover. Conflicts between humans and non-humans (elves and dwarves and other ‘older’ races) are examples of such confrontation. Humans have driven the elder races from their lands, forests and mountains. Those, in turn, want to regain their dignity, however some want to do that through terrorising and killing innocent people. A conflict where there is no middle ground, at least not one that either side is willing to see. One of the main motifs re-emerging throughout the short stories is the ambiguity of evil and good. The world of the witcher is painted in all shades of grey with no clear moral choices. These dilemmas that the author has posed before his characters are the driving themes of Geralt ’s stories. These problems often are based on the human - nonhuman conflict, Geralt as a mutant, is often caught in the middle. The decisions he is forced to make are decisions that have no truly positive outcome. He also explores to a painstakingly thorough degree the notion of “lesser evil” (especially in a short story by the same title) where there’s rarely any choice between good and bad in life, rather everything is in different shades of grey. Having no clear division between good and evil Geralt must always choose what he believes is best, even if it means that he will be seen himself as evil. These decisions might have serious repercussions, nevertheless they must be made in order to prevent a greater evil from happening. The concept of lesser evil is explored throughout all of Sapkowski’s writing, not just The Witcher novels. It is most eminent when political and religious conflicts take place in normal world among normal people. It shows how great evil may be committed in the name of greater good, and how when no side is right, the innocent are made to suffer for it.'' '' ‘There is only Evil and Great Evil, and hiding behind them in the shadows is the Greater Evil. Greater Evil, Geralt, is the one that you cannot even imagine, even if you think that nothing can surprise you anymore. And you se Geralt, sometimes the Greater Evil will grab you by the neck and say: ”Choose, me or the other one, the little smaller one.” (...) Lesser Evil exist, but we cannot choose it ourselves. It is the Greater Evil that can force us to make this choice, whether we want it or not.’ -'' Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish "Lesser Evil” '''Further information: Literary Criticism Contributors The Witcher in other media Andrzej Sapkowski’s books were adapted into a movie and a TV series entitled [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300657/ The Hexer] (title based on the initial translation of the novels into English, later revised to its current version) which were ill received by fans as well as the critics. Comic books based on the short stories, created by artist – '''Bogusław Polch '''and '''Maciej Parowski '''who together with Sapkowski himself was responsible for the story. The Comic Books were well received as truthful to the original stories. Computer Role Playing Game franchise The Witcher created by CD Projekt Red which gained high praise from the fans as well as the critics and introduced Spakowski’s world to the international audience. The games were praised for their mature handling of traditional fantasy themes, their handling of controversial issues like xenophobia, discrimination and the real face od politics was a never-before-seen approach in video gaming. Category:Browse Category:Monsters Category:Geography